Page 37 of Fallen Ink

“I’m not a dumpling!”

“You’re soft and adorable like one,” Addi teased. “And I love dumplings. So, Mace, what did you have in mind?”

He looked down at her sexy-as-hell dress as he ran a hand over his head, wishing to hell and back that they’d been able to actually have the date they wanted to—but he guessed they’d make do with what they had.

“Order in?”

Addi rolled her eyes. “Uh, I don’t think so. I’m sure you have some prosciutto, pancetta, parmesan cheese, and the makings for some amazing red sauce in your cabinets and fridge. Am I right?”

“Well, of course, I’m like a quarter Italian and that means every once in a while I pretend that I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay, then. What do you say we work together and make us a yummy meal? Did you already eat, Daisy?”

His daughter nodded. “But I like other-bacon.” She couldn’t quite say prosciutto or pancetta so they had taken to calling it other-bacon.

“Maybe we’ll save you a bite or four,” Mace said as he picked up his daughter and hung her upside down. She laughed and wiggled, forcing him to hold her a little bit tighter so he didn’t drop her. Addi laughed with them before taking off her shoes and coat. She pulled a soft wrap with armholes out of one of her pockets and slid it over her sexy-as-all-get-out dress. Well, he would forever regret the fact that he couldn’t watch her walk around in that dress, but he was glad she looked a little more comfortable in his house.

As he set his daughter down, his best friend took her hand and led them all to start working on dinner. Soon, they were laughing until they cried, eating some amazing food, and starting on the kid-friendly movie until Daisy fell asleep.

And as he met Addi’s eyes, he knew that though their date hadn’t been exactly what they wanted, perhaps it had been exactly what they needed. What that meant, however, he had no clue. He only knew that having her in his life meant having her in all aspects of his life. He just hoped that if for some reason they couldn’t make this work or decided the pitfalls were far too grave, he didn’t end up hurting them in the end. Because his little girl had already been through enough, and though he wanted to put his relationship with Adrienne first, he knew he couldn’t. But because she was who she was, he knew she would understand…did understand.

He just hoped he truly did, too.

Chapter 13

Adrienne really wanted to get a move on and get to work, but she had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen with the headache she was already facing at home. She’d already had to deal with the leaky faucet, a backed-up garbage disposal, and was pretty sure she had almost broken her pinky toe on the edge of her bed. And anyone sane out there knew there was no harsher pain than hitting one’s pinky toe on any piece of furniture. She had cursed up a blue streak, and it had all gotten worse from there.

Now, she was running twenty minutes late and having to change shirts because she had spilled her coffee down her front. Thankfully, it had been cold coffee because she had been so busy dealing with household issues that she hadn’t actually had a chance to drink it when it was hot. Small mercies and all that.

She’d already had to text Mace and tell him to head to work without her so at least one of them could be on time. Shep had opened, but he couldn’t handle the shop by himself when the rest of them all had appointments on the books. Ryan was off that day, but he’d said he wanted to come in on off hours to get some drawings done that he couldn’t do at home. She hadn’t questioned him on that and, frankly, would be glad to have him around. The shop was a lot more energized when the four of them worked as a group.

However, that meant she had to get in a better mood before she got to work. Because not only did she have three tattoo sessions that day, she also started with a nose piercing appointment. So, now her day was jam-packed, and she just hoped she could handle it all.

Knowing she needed to buck up, she changed her shirt, rolled her shoulders back, and told herself that she was an adult and could do this—no matter how much her pinky toe hurt.

And with all of that, she also had to do her best not to think about where her relationship with Mace was headed. Because that would only activate her headache, and she truly did not have time for that today. She wasn’t just falling in love with him. She’d fallen head over heels in love with the man. And with the way he had warned her when they went on their non-date, and how he had included her in his evening with Daisy, she had a feeling things had changed once again. And though she was still nervous, it was an excited nervousness.

But she would have to push all of that to the back of her mind and get to work. She was a freaking adult who owned a business, and she needed to get to work. She hated that she would be late at all, but sometimes, life got in the way of living.

She made her way across the highway to MIT and parked in the parking lot next to Mace’s truck. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she looked out her side window and gasped.

Shep and Mace were outside the shop, hands on their hips as they stared at the front of the building.

Where someone had broken the Montgomery Ink Too sign into pieces.

Her heart ached, and her hands shook as she took in the physical manifestation of what someone had been trying to do to her business, her second home, a piece of her heart all along: break it.

Methodically, piece-by-piece, someone was trying to tear into what she’d put so much of her life, energy, money, and soul into. Someone had put hateful words where anyone could see. They hadn’t cared that children could walk by and see those words, and parents would be forced to have conversations that they might not be ready to have. Because it hadn’t just been curse words, it had been horrible, horrible things, which no woman should ever have to see. And now this…parents would always put those conversations in the same place in their mind as her shop. And she couldn’t blame them.

They were in a well-respected, family-centric community. And between the new rumors of drugs and uncleanliness added to the destruction of property, she wasn’t sure how many more hits to the reputation of her shop, her people, and her soul she could take.

“You’re better than this, Adrienne Montgomery.” Her voice filled her car, and she took a deep breath, knowing she needed to get through whatever pain was currently digging at her and be the boss she needed to be.

When had she gone from a woman who immediately reacted, to one who needed a moment to get through the grief of what she might lose? She was done with this. Done.

She got out of her car, slammed the door behind her, and stepped towards the shop. At a second glance, the damage didn’t look as bad as she had feared. Unless you looked directly at the sign and the subsequent debris on the ground below it, you couldn’t really tell that someone had tried to damage her place of business. But she knew, and this was the last fucking straw.

Abby came out of her tea shop just then, a tray of to-go cups of what was most likely hot and delicious tea in her hands.

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